Disruptive Pretenders

All right, well, we are continuing our way through the letter that Paul wrote to Titus

on the island of Crete.

For those of you who are visiting or haven't been here in a while,

we started a new series looking at this letter of Paul's.

Paul, of course, was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ,

which means that he was a spokesperson sent by Christ to speak Christ's words to the churches

and to give them the instructions and guidance they needed

as they began to be established all over the Mediterranean world.

And Paul and Titus have been co-workers and partners in this work of proclaiming the gospel

to various places all around the Mediterranean Sea.

And one of those places was an island called Crete, which is just southeast of Greece.

And last week we heard about how Paul left Titus on that island.

And the reason was to put in order what was left unfinished.

And we saw that the main work that Titus was to do in each of the churches was to appoint elders.

He was to appoint leaders in the churches, men of good reputation,

men of godly character, men who had proven themselves at home with their families,

and men who were holding firmly to the word of God,

to the gospel, and to all the teaching from God that goes with it.

And as we heard last week, there were two reasons that they had to be men

who hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught.

First, so that they can encourage, exhort, instruct others by sound doctrine.

And second, so that they can refute or correct or expose those who oppose it.

Now, why is this so important?

Well, Paul is about to tell Titus.

Let me read it for us, starting in verse 9.

So an elder must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught,

so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception,

especially those of the circumcision group.

They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households

by teaching things they ought not to teach,

and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

One of Crete's own prophets has said it.

Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.

This saying is true.

Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith,

and will pay no attention to Jewish myths,

or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.

To the pure, all things are pure.

But to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.

In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him.

They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good.

So Paul tells us why it's so important to have qualified elders,

men who are holding firmly to the trustworthy message,

the gospel, the word of God.

This is important, he says, because there are many rebellious people.

The word here means insubordinate.

People who are not subject to authority,

but are ignoring it, or are even pushing back against it.

And these are not just like any of the people on Crete.

They are people who are amidst the churches,

among the church people on Crete.

People who are stirring up trouble,

and inciting others to go against the trustworthy teaching,

of Christ.

Paul says that these people are full of meaningless talk.

He's saying that their words are empty, irrelevant,

that they lack any real substantial value.

In fact, Paul says they are full of deception.

They are deceivers, misleading people.

Now just how aware of this, or intentional of this,

they are, we don't know.

But Paul gives us a little bit to understand the place that they're coming from.

He says, especially those of the circumcision group.

And that's a reference to some of these people being Jewish.

Some of these people who are insubordinate,

stirring up trouble, divisive.

They're Jews.

And they're not the sort of believing Jew that Paul is.

They're perhaps more like the Pharisees,

and the religious leaders in Israel.

They don't seem to be embracing the trustworthy message about Christ as Messiah.

Perhaps they were similar to the Judaizers,

who were infiltrating the churches in Galatia,

advocating that people must keep the law,

and be circumcised,

and live a good enough life to be accepted by God.

We don't know the full extent of their teaching.

But it's anti-Christ.

It's anti-Christian enough

that Paul says, in verse 11,

they must be silenced.

They're disrupting whole households

by teaching things they ought not to teach.

And that, for the sake of dishonest gain.

So this is a real problem there on the island of Crete.

There are deceptive, insubordinate,

some Jewish, some not, teachers,

and they are causing division and trouble in the churches.

And it seems they're even working some kind of scheme

to make money at this,

to make a profit off of this.

And Paul says to Titus,

you must silence them.

Rebuke them sharply.

Verse 13.

So if you can imagine yourself as Titus,

I mean, this is not an easy assignment.

Paul is basically saying,

you need to go toe-to-toe

with these influencers,

these teachers.

You need to silence them.

You need to call them to repent.

Down in verse 14,

Paul implies that they're teaching Jewish myth.

They're even giving commands.

They've kind of set themselves up as authorities.

And down in verse 14,

Paul says that these are merely human commands

of men who reject the truth.

So tell the people in the churches on the island of Crete

to pay no attention to those teachings.

And then in the midst of all this,

Paul quotes one of Crete's,

the island's own prophets,

in verse 12.

He says,

one of Crete's own prophets has said it.

Cretans are always liars,

evil brutes,

lazy gluttons.

This saying is true,

says Paul.

So evidently,

the people on this island,

in general,

were known for a few things.

They were known for being liars.

And not just a little,

but a lot.

Always liars.

So they were known for dishonesty,

cheating,

scamming,

swindling,

misleading.

That was the norm.

They were known for being evil brutes.

Quite literally,

evil beasts.

Or wicked animals.

Probably a nickname that they had earned

from their just deceptive

and downright malicious dealings

with each other

and with outsiders.

So these guys are not known

on this island

for being trustworthy,

for being kind.

And finally,

they were known for being lazy gluttons.

They were known for their idleness,

for being lazy,

not wanting to work

or put in any effort for anything.

And they were gluttons.

The picture we get here

is of people indulging to the max

in whatever cravings

or pleasures

they can get their hands on.

So I don't know

how many of you

have ever seen the movie

Pirates of the Caribbean.

If you've never seen it,

don't bother watching it.

But if you have seen it,

this sounds a lot like Tortuga,

that sort of pirate haven

or pit stop

where people are constantly,

you know,

swashbuckling each other

and double-crossing each other

and eating and drinking themselves

into a stupor,

spending themselves broke

and swindling others

out of their goods and money.

quite the reputation.

Cretans are always liars,

evil brutes,

lazy gluttons.

And Paul says,

this saying is true.

That basically sums it up.

Therefore, says Paul,

rebuke them sharply

so that they will be sound

in the faith

and will pay no attention

to Jewish myths

or to the merely human commands

of those who reject the truth.

And it seems that here

Paul has in view

both the false teachers

that he just mentioned

as well as those in the churches

who might listen to these people.

Rebuke them sharply,

says Paul.

And notice the goal

of that rebuke.

It isn't just to scold them

or to make them feel ashamed

or to get them to shut up

or smarten up.

No, it's a sharp rebuke

so that they will be sound

in the faith.

We're talking righteous rebuke.

We're talking restorative rebuke.

A rebuke that aims to see them

turn away from this

old way of living

that's so common around them

and turn to the way of Christ

and to the way that fits

with a faith in Jesus.

Well, as we consider

the culture of Crete,

if you were here last Sunday,

you can see there's quite

a contrast between

the requirements of the elders

and the leaders

up in verses 5 to 9

and the general conduct

of the people

that are all around them

on this island.

Elders, and as we said last week,

really, all mature believers

are to be trustworthy,

are to be faithful,

are to be honest,

are to be disciplined

and self-controlled

in the midst of a culture

that is not trustworthy,

that is deceitful,

that is wicked, lazy,

self-indulgent.

Let's continue on in verse 15.

Paul says,

To the pure,

all things are pure.

But to those who are corrupted

and do not believe,

nothing is pure.

This might be specifically pointed

at the circumcision group.

The Pharisees,

the ones who opposed Christ,

they were known

for their strict standards

of ritual cleanliness.

They were known

for all these ceremonial washings

that they did

because everything is unclean.

They would wash their hands

ceremonially,

maybe even sometimes

take a bath

to cleanse themselves

if they went

into the marketplace

because maybe some

of the spiritual filth

on the people

got onto me.

And Paul seems

to be refuting

that kind of mindset

with a little bit

of a gross exaggeration

to make a point.

He says,

To those who are corrupted

and do not believe,

nothing is pure.

But in reality,

he says,

To those who are pure,

to those who are truly pure,

washed clean by Christ,

all things are pure.

Now that doesn't mean

that sinful behaviors

become pure.

Of course not.

It means that all the good things

that God created

and has given to man

for his benefit

and his enjoyment

and his use,

all of those things are clean.

All of those things are pure.

All of those things are good.

By faith in the truth of God,

we who believe in Christ

and have been washed

and made pure,

we see the beauty

of those things,

the goodness of those things,

the benefit of those things.

Many man-made religions

have treated marriage

or sex

or certain kinds of food

or certain kinds of work

as though they are dirty

and defiling of a person.

But to those who belong to Christ

and have been made pure

through faith in him,

we see all these things

with a right perspective now.

All that man-made religiousness

is corrupt.

It's crooked.

Paul goes on.

He says,

They claim to know God,

but by their actions

they deny him.

They are detestable,

disobedient,

and unfit

for doing anything good.

This is a pretty scathing rebuke.

And it seems to refer

not to the true believers

in the church,

but to the false teachers

and to anyone else

who's causing trouble.

And it doesn't speak

to their future.

It doesn't predict

how they will respond

to this rebuke from Titus,

but it speaks to how

they are at present.

They are disobedient.

So not just spiritually apathetic,

but worse.

They're doing the opposite

of Christ's commands.

Paul says,

They are detestable.

This is a really strong word.

Abhorrent is basically a synonym.

That's quite a thing

to say about a person.

But right now,

they are doing abhorrent

and detestable things.

Deceiving families,

swindling them out of their money.

And finally,

Paul says,

They are unfit

for doing anything good.

Again,

another very strong statement.

At the least,

this means that these people

are disqualified

from serving in church leadership

and probably from any other role

in the church.

In their present state

of defiance and disbelief,

they're not only no benefit,

but they're dangerous.

They're damaging.

They're disruptive.

Nothing good

can come from them

unless they have a serious

change of heart

and repent.

But probably the clearest

and most startling statement

comes before all this

in verse 16.

They claim

to know God,

but by their actions,

they deny Him.

They claim to know God,

but by their actions,

they deny Him.

So these teachers,

these influencers

amidst the churches,

they're not the kind of people

who are promoting

other world religions.

They're not promoting

Greek gods

or Egyptian gods

or satanic worship

or atheism.

They're the kind of people

who claim

to know God,

the one true God.

They are professing believers

in God.

They say with their mouths,

I believe in God,

but,

says Paul,

by their actions,

they deny Him.

So with their mouths,

they're saying,

I believe in God,

but Paul says,

with their actions,

they're saying,

I don't believe in God.

You've heard the saying,

actions speak louder

than words.

Well,

this is kind of

a similar form of that.

There are people there

in Crete

whose actions

are speaking louder

than their words.

They're claiming

to know God,

and yet the way

they are living

betrays

that profession.

It shows it

to be false.

It's possible

to be a professing

believer in God,

but not be

a Christian.

Believing in Jesus,

as we often say here,

is enough.

It's all that it takes

to be saved.

That's the good news

of Christ.

He saves us

as a gift of grace

to us,

as we just mentioned earlier

during the prayer time.

All we do

to receive that gift

is believe.

believe.

And there are people

who truly believe

from their hearts.

And there are people

who say they believe,

but really do not.

Sometimes we call this

spurious faith.

Spurious means

not genuine,

not authentic.

It means that

it's a faith

that on the surface

looks true,

but at its root,

at its core,

it just lacks

the characteristics,

the qualities

of true faith.

And if you were here

with us

when we were working

through the gospel

of John

and going through that,

we ran into this kind

of spurious faith

a few times.

Jesus,

on more than one occasion,

exposed the spurious

faith of people

in Israel.

Many of them

claimed to believe

in God,

and yet just like

the people

in this passage,

they were denying him

by their actions.

They were saying,

we are children of God,

we are children

of Abraham.

And Jesus

was saying to them,

no,

you are of your father,

the devil.

That's from John

John 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8.

Jesus exposed

their so-called faith

in God

for what it really was.

Empty words.

Some of these people

at the same time

were plotting

to murder Jesus.

They were filled

with greed

and pride

and covetousness.

They were hypocritical.

They were always

judging others

but never judging

themselves.

They were living

for the praise

of other people

but not

for the praise

of God.

Not only did we see

this in the religious

leaders but we saw

it even in the

followers of Jesus.

We saw that many

followed him around

and were quite

enamored

by him.

They liked the miracles

that he was doing.

They found the teaching

very interesting.

It tickled their fancy.

And yet,

they didn't believe

his words.

And when Jesus

started saying

some things

that weren't popular

or doing some things

that were getting

him into trouble

with the religious

leaders,

suddenly these

followers,

they just melted

away.

They disappeared.

Probably many of

them had been

baptized

and had been

saying,

I believe in Jesus.

I believe you're

the Messiah.

But then when

things grew difficult

or unpopular,

they quit following

Jesus.

Their spurious

faith was exposed.

These are the people

in Jesus' parable

of the sower,

if you know the

parable,

who receive the

word with joy.

Yes,

I believe.

But then in the

time of testing

or opposition

or difficulty,

their faith

withers

and they bear

no fruit.

Jesus says

it's because

they have

no root.

Their faith

is only

on the surface.

It's shallow.

it's up here

but it's not

in here.

Spurious faith

does not

save a person.

James makes

this quite clear

in his New Testament

letter.

James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

James writes,

What good is it,

my brothers and

sisters,

if someone

claims to have

faith but has

no deeds?

Can such faith

save them?

Suppose a brother

or sister is

without clothes

and daily food.

If one of you

says to them,

Oh, go in peace,

keep warm,

and be well fed,

but does nothing

about their

physical needs,

what good is it?

In the same way,

faith by itself,

if it is not

accompanied by

action,

is dead.

But someone

will say,

You have faith,

I have deeds.

Show me your

faith without

deeds,

and I will

show you my

faith by

my deeds.

You believe

that there is

one God?

Good.

Even the demons

believe that

and shudder.

So a profession

of faith in God

or in Jesus,

it must be

weighed,

it must be

proved by

how a person

lives,

because how

we live

reveals

what we

really believe.

In the words

of Jesus,

you will know

them by

their fruit.

Jesus

said it this

way,

he said,

watch out

for false

prophets.

They come

to you in

sheep's clothing,

but inwardly

they are

ferocious

wolves.

By their

fruit,

you will

recognize

them.

Do people

pick grapes

from thorn

bushes,

or figs

from thistles?

Likewise,

every good

tree bears

good fruit,

but a bad

tree bears

bad fruit.

A good

tree cannot

bear bad

fruit,

and a bad

tree cannot

bear good

fruit.

Every tree

that does

not bear

good fruit

is cut

down and

thrown into

the fire.

Thus,

by their

fruit,

you will

recognize

them.

So this

is the

way,

says Paul,

to discern

false

teachers,

false

prophets.

Do their

actions,

does the

way that

they live

say,

yes,

Jesus is

Lord?

Do they

generally

obey his

commands and

seek to

do what

is pleasing

to Christ?

Or do

their actions,

does the

way they

live say,

no,

Jesus is

not really

the Lord?

does their

living match

their

profession?

Now,

this doesn't

mean that

true believers

never sin.

Of course

not.

When it

comes to

these things,

we're talking

about the

general pattern

of a

person's

life.

Is there

good fruit

growing,

or is it

bad fruit?

How does

this apply

to us?

Well,

these words

might be

helpful to

us in

understanding

that there's

a clear

contrast

between a

true believer

and an

unbeliever,

between a

Christian and

a person of

the world.

These words

might also be

helpful as we

seek to sift

through some

of the voices

that are

coming at us

in our

world,

especially those

who claim to

have discernment

and that we're

all missing out

on some

important

understanding

or teaching.

But before

we get to

examining others

and discerning

others,

God's word

is clear

that we must

first examine

ourselves.

Jesus said

it this way.

He said,

Why do you

look at the

speck of

sawdust in

your brother's

eye and

pay no

attention to

the plank

in your

own eye?

How can

you say to

your brother,

let me take

the speck out

of your eye

when all the

time there's

a plank in

your own

eye?

You hypocrite.

First,

take the

plank out of

your own

eye and

then you

will see

clearly to

remove the

speck from

your brother's

eye.

Before we

get to

examining and

discerning

others,

we must

first examine

ourselves.

Paul said

it this way

in his letter

to the church

at Rome.

He said,

If you're

convinced that

you are a

guide for

the blind,

a light for

those who

are in the

dark,

an instructor

of the

foolish,

a teacher

of little

children,

because you

have in the

law,

the embodiment

of knowledge

and truth,

you then,

who teach

others,

do you not

teach yourself?

You who

preach against

stealing,

do you

steal?

And Paul

goes on.

Again,

before we get

to examining

others,

we need to

first examine

ourselves.

Paul actually

says it

point blank

in his letter

to the

Corinthians.

He says

examine

yourselves

to see

whether you

are in

the faith.

Test

yourselves.

Do you

not realize

that Christ

Jesus is

in you?

Unless,

of course,

you fail

the test.

And this

is really

the invitation

of this

passage in

Titus,

isn't it?

Here are

these people

who are

claiming to

know God,

yet by their

actions they

are denying

him.

The invitation

here is

for each

of us,

to each

of us,

to look

at ourselves.

Am I

claiming to

know God?

Am I

claiming to

be a follower

of Jesus?

Do my

actions claim

that as

well?

If I

believe Christ

is the

king,

will I

not,

on the

whole,

in general,

as my

pattern,

obey,

his

commands?

Now,

sometimes I

know we

hear these

words,

take the

log out of

your own

eye and

examine

yourselves,

and we

may wonder,

well,

how do we

do that?

What does

it mean to

examine myself?

Do we

just pray and

ask God

about it?

Well,

I think that's

a good start,

but then what

do we do

after that?

Do we

wait for a

feeling of

confirmation

that we

pass the

test?

Christ?

The Bible

tells us that

God's spirit

does live

within his

people,

and that

his spirit

testifies with

our spirit

that we are

his children.

So yes,

there is an

inward feeling,

there is an

inward convincing

that's going on

in our hearts

if we belong

to Christ and

we have his

spirit in us.

But here's the

rub.

For those

who do not

really believe

in Christ,

they too

seem to have

some kind

of an

inward feeling,

an inward

convincing going

on in their

hearts too.

Somehow they

justify themselves.

They say,

yeah,

yeah,

I believe.

I'm a good

person.

I'm okay

with God.

Feelings are

maybe not

especially reliable

in indicating

what the truth

of the matter

is.

Both the

believer

and the

unbeliever

feel they

pass the

test.

But the

Bible tells

us that we

will all

stand before

the judgment

seat of

Christ.

Romans 14

10,

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:10

5,

verse 10.

And what

will be the

basis?

What will be

the standard

by which we're

judged?

Is it by how

strong we

felt in our

relationship to

Jesus?

The answer

is no.

It will be

based on what

we did.

how we

lived.

What we

did, how

we lived,

that will be

the evidence

of whether

our faith

in Jesus

was genuine

or spurious.

What was

the fruit

of our

faith?

Was

ours a

true

living faith

with deeds,

good deeds

flowing out of

it, good fruit

coming from

it?

or was it

a dead

faith from

which nothing

good came?

Did we

receive the

word of God

with joy and

persevere and

bear fruit?

Or did we

receive it with

joy but then

fall away from

Christ and go

after the

chasing of our

own pleasures

and idols and

just kind of

wither spiritually?

This kind of

self-examination,

I mean it does

require prayer

but it also

requires us to

take a sober

look at our

daily lives

and whether or

not we're

living in

obedience to

Jesus.

Not perfectly

of course

but as the

general pattern.

if that's not

the case,

if you look at

your life and

you look at

the pages of

the Bible and

you see what

Jesus is

commanding and

you look at

your life and

you see that

that's out of

sync.

I'm not living

in obedience to

Jesus.

Maybe you

realize that

you're just

doing a

meager,

bare minimum

kind of

obedience to

Jesus just

to appease

your conscience.

If that's

you, let me

bring the

words of

Christ.

to bear on

you this

morning.

You are in

great danger.

You might be

able to fool

others around

you but you

can't fool

God.

The final

resting place

for those who

do not have

true faith

in Jesus,

the Bible

says is the

lake of fire.

Hell.

God's

God's

God.

And it's

not just a

one-time

mention.

These are the

words of

God, the

words of

Christ again

and again

to us in

many different

places and

passages.

Jesus talked

about it.

How eternal

punishment is

the just

sentence that

we deserve

if we do

not from the

heart receive,

believe in

Jesus Christ

because all

of us have

sinned and

fall short of

God's glory.

The good

news is God

doesn't want

you to go

there.

He loves

you.

He's calling

you today, if

you haven't done

this already, to

repent and to

fully embrace

Jesus Christ,

the Savior,

that he has

provided.

God, maybe

you're here and

you know that

you don't

believe, at

least not deep

down in here

anyway, as

you should.

Maybe you feel

like you're on

the edge of a

cliff and

jumping off that

cliff and

surrendering your

life and your

heart to Jesus

almost feels like

suicide, feels

like death.

How could I do

that?

And maybe you

feel the, you

know, I'm just

going to back

away from the

edge.

I'm just going

to kind of go

back to the

safety and the

comforts of my

life and how

it's, how, the

way that I've

been living.

But maybe today,

this morning, you

hear King Jesus

calling you to

jump off the

cliff of faith.

Surrendering your

life to Jesus, it

does feel like a

kind of death to

yourself.

Jesus said so.

He said,

whoever wants to

be my disciple must

deny himself

and take up his

cross, that's

death, and

follow me.

For whoever

wants to save

their life, that's

back away from

the cliff, keep

doing what I've

been doing.

For whoever

wants to save

their life will

lose it, said

Jesus.

But whoever

loses their

life, that's

jumping off the

cliff of faith,

whoever loses

their life for me

and for the

gospel will save

it.

If you haven't

already done this,

I urge you, jump

off the cliff of

faith into the

loving arms of

Jesus.

He will catch you.

True belief in

Jesus, at least at

the beginning, at the

outset, it does feel

like a suicide.

It feels like a

death.

But it's the way to

find true life.

it's the way to

find that lasting

joy and peace and

hope and life that

you've been looking

for.

It's the way to have

your sins forgiven

and to enter into

that restored

relationship with a

Father in heaven who

loves you.

I hope and I pray

that when that final

day comes, not a

single one of us in

this room will have

this for our life

verse.

They claimed to

know God, but by

their actions, they

denied him.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we

thank you for your

word.

And I know that it's

not sometimes what we

want to hear, that it's

sometimes hard words,

not the most pleasant

things to think about.

But we thank you that

you speak the truth to

us because you love

us.

And I pray that these

words would bear

great fruit in our

lives.

I pray that every one

of us would surrender

completely to you and

that our faith in you

would grow and that you

would turn our lives

upside down and change

us for the good that

you long to do in us

and for your own

glory.

Thank you for sending

Jesus to save us.

Thank you for your

Holy Spirit.

We commit ourselves to

you in his name.

Amen.